#9 I Live in an Antbed:“Yes! We LOVE notebooking. It’s such a wonderful thing for the kids to fill up a notebook with the things they’ve learned. They love to look back through them over and over, savoring the richness. This Africa notebook looks INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much for introducing it to us.”

#144 Val V:“I have not heard of notebooking but looks like a great way to learn about any subject for a variety of ages.”

Congratulations, winners!

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Last year Kenny participated in a geography unit study based on the “Galloping the Globe” curriculum. Overall, I was happy with both the co-op class and its content. When I enrolled Kenny in the class I fully understood it would take far more than a year for a teacher to thoroughly cover each of the countries selected, so my expectations for what could be covered were realistic. Considering the study also ventured to the North and South Poles, as well as the seasonal “Christmas Around the World” in December, the unit study became more of a race around the world than a “gallop.”

That said, I really did like the basic platform of the study; most specifically, the authors’ detailed suggestions of how the same study could be extended two, maybe even three, years for a more in-depth notebooking project.

The study also revealed Kenny’s passion for geography and his growing interest in the continent of Africa. Since we have family members who have served for years as missionaries in Tunisia, other family who assist an African ministry from here in the U.S., as well as friends who have recently returned from short-term mission work in Rwanda, his interest is not surprising and pretty personal.

I love how she described the work that went into her Discover Africa! notebooking packet:

“I am not kidding when I tell you that writing this, combing through all the information, going over proofs, collecting photographer permissions, correcting stuff on Wikipedia…feels a little bit like a long, laborious pregnancy. Thankfully, there was no puking.”

In her post Jessica describes how she went from signing up to teach a co-op class on Africa to creating her own curriculum, but the bottom line is she saw that there were absolutely no comprehensive units available online to study Africa.

So? She created her own.

Discover Africa! doesn’t just claim to teach about Africa–this notebooking packet actually includes pages and maps for ever single country in Africa.

When Jessica released the packet at the end of August, I downloaded, printed, purchased, organized and prepared a binder to present to our local homeschool co-op moms at our next Ladies Night Out. I am certain there will be several moms excited about the possibilities for an in-depth exploration of Africa and all its countries.

Before I go into details about each of the sections, let me tell you about the PDFs included in the Discover Africa! packet:

The Discover Africa! Resource & Introductory Guide lists all of the countries included in the unit, makes suggestions for how to best organize/use the packet, provides Answer Keys as necessary, and gives an extensive list of books and other resources you may or may not want to integrate to enrich the study.

I printed all 7 flag sheets in full color on card stock. Though you could use Wikipedia as a color guide when coloring in the line-drawn flags on the notebooking pages, Jessica has taken the time to size the flags to scale for your use.

This is especially helpful in a homeschool co-op setting where online access isn’t necessarily always available. Teachers and parents can simply print out these sheets for their students to search through and use as a point of reference.

As with the flag sheets, I printed out the 6 full color photo sheets of thumbnail images and clipped them into the binder behind the flag sheets.

In her Resource Guide Jessica suggests printing them on sticker paper. I love that idea, but unfortunately didn’t have any sticker paper left, so I simply used card stock.

While the photos are small the brilliant color and distinct cultural references adds a rich, visual story to each country’s notebooking page. There are 2 to 3 thumbnails provided per country.

As a side note: Be sure to check out the URLs for the full-sized version of the photos offered on these pages (also available in the Resource Guide).

Before the 54 black line maps for each country Jessica included 2 additional black line maps. One is simply the blank African continent map seen above and the other is a black line map of the continent with all the political borders of the sovereign states and territories clearly defined.

There are multiple ways to customize the notebooking experience for your child and/or co-op class. Because my notebook would be a teacher’s book, I have not printed pages front-to-back and organized them regionally, but instead have them organized by type.

However, when I talked to Office Depot about binding these notebooking pages for a future co-op class, I intended to group them as “full spreads.” In other words, the country’s notebooking page would be on the left and the matching black line map on the right. For the record, when I priced the binding at Office Depot it looked like I could have everything printed and bound (with cardstock cover sheet on the top and back) for around $13.00 each. To have one sample created would run about $16.00. This DID NOT INCLUDE the flag and photo thumbnails. Since they would be cut out separately I saw no reason to include them in the bound book.

Click on the following links to view how a full spread (in a binder) would look for the countries of Liberia, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

The notebooking pages in the Discover Africa! unit are provided either blank or partially filled-in. If you have older children they can do the research and report back on the population, capital city, terrain, government, currency, major religion(s), industry, agriculture, landmarks, etc… as well as culture, cuisine and other interesting facts.

However, if you have younger children who cannot do the bulk of the work themselves, the partially or “mostly filled-in” notebooking pages leave a few places to write in information, but for the most part only leave space for cutting, pasting and coloring.

Check out Jessica’s blog for more information on everything included in the Discover Africa! Comprehensive Notebooking Packet. For the purpose of full disclosure Jessica does offer an affiliate program for homeschooling bloggers who want to offer this unit on their blogs, however NONE OF THE LINKS ON THIS POST are affiliate links. This post is purely a review of an outstanding unit for homeschool families to consider if there is a desire to thoroughly study the continent of Africa.

HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE DISCOVER AFRICA! COMPREHENSIVE NOTEBOOKING PACKET!

To enter the giveaway, just answer the following question in the Comments section below:

Have you integrated notebooking into your homeschool curriculum or methods? If so, why? If not, why not?

THE RULES/DETAILS
» One entry per person, please.
» No entries after 6:00 PM (CST) on Wednesday, September 12th.
» Winners will be selected at random and announced Wednesday evening.

THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING! COMMENTS ARE CLOSED – THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED AT TOP!!

About the Author: A faith blogger and homeschooling parent, Heather Sanders is recognized for coining the term faithsizing to define her journey to find peace and contentment through Christ while embracing a simpler lifestyle.Visit her blog or follower her on Instagram.

Heather Sanders

Hi. I’m Heather, a freelance writer living in Huntsville, a smallish town on the tail-end of the East Texas Pineywoods.
Twenty years ago, I married Jeff, the love of my life, and shortly after, we chose to “go forth and multiply.” We have three kids: Emelie, Meredith and Kenny. We homeschool. It's what we do, and it works for us.
Tired of feeling overwhelmed, we recently "faithsized" our family into a 960 square foot lake cabin in need of renovation. I write at HeatherSanders.com about faith and simplifying your desires so you can be content right here and right now

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Comments

We are working to integrate notebooking for organizational and amazing educational purposes.

Holly

No, I have not utilized notebooking, but would like to. This one sounds especially interesting… I love geography themed studies. Thanks for reviewing products for us!

http://funnylittlepollywogs.com Lacie

I am not homeschooling, but I am a middle school French teacher. I LOVE this idea for teaching my students about French speaking Africa. I really think that public school lacks when it comes to teaching about Africa and I am making it a point to focus more in the continent and its people in my classroom. Eventually (when my baby is older), I see this as a way I could supplement his learning at home, over the summer.

Mary C.

I actually have never heard the term notebooking until this post. We have done unit studies and lapbooks in the past when my girls were smaller, but looking over this Africa study makes me want to try notebooking. Thank you for sharing this!

Becky

I haven’t started notebooking yet, because my children are still small. (preK, K, 1st, and 2nd), but I do think that we will use it as they move forward and their schooling requires more resources.

UlrikeDG

I hadn’t even heard of “notebooking” before reading your post.

Lisa DeCourcey

I used notebooking with my older two children as I homeschooled them (they are both in college now). I am just now introducing notebooking to my youngest. Our family and our church have close relationships with friends in Uganda, Kenya, Swaziland, and South Africa so I’d love to do a close study of Africa with my daughter. Thanks for letting us know about this awesome resource.

SusanP in ON

I didn’t, but wish I had. My kids much preferred to do their work on their own but I love the idea of gathering information to have it available all in one binder.

Donna Ward has great Canadian resources and she came to speak to our little homeschool group as she lives nearby. Her Africa study was new and by the time she was finished talking I swear if there were a plane at the airport we all would have jumped on to go tour with her! Not having seen either study in detail I can’t say for certain, but this looks like it could be a great supplement to this study.

Yes! We LOVE notebooking. It’s such a wonderful thing for the kids to fill up a notebook with the things they’ve learned. They love to look back through them over and over, savoring the richness. This Africa notebook looks INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much for introducing it to us.🙂

Jeanette H.

My children are not school age yet, but I plan to homeschool and am gathering ideas. Notebooking seems ideal – organized, versatile, and fun! My husband and I both have a passion for Africa, so I would love to get this study for my kids to have in the future. Thank you for reviewing this.

Deborah Green

We do use note booking for some parts of our homeschooling. I started last year when we wanted to add an extra unit that wasnt part of the “curriculum” I would love this one, as my mother is from South Africa.

Wendy

I’ve actually not really heard the term notebooking. My son is K age, so we’ve only just begun. I’ve printed off workbooks though!

ali

I’m not sure what one would call it, but we are trying this year. It might be a hybrid of notebooking and lapbooks???

Ally

I haven’t yet, since my kids are little but I will in the future.

Kris

I have used notebooking in a very limited capacity, but would love to do more. The information listed here is awesome and I would love to integrate that into our curriculum.

http://www.genialhearth.com Fe

I toyed a little with note booking a couple of years ago—also in geography:-) we didn’t actually reach Africa, though, so this looks great:-)

Jill

Yes, we use notebooking for history — love it!

Natalya

I haven’t done it yet. We are planning on doing it next school year (third grade).

Marcy

OH MY GOODNESS!!! This notebook is beautiful! I have used notebooking in various forms. At the very least I like to keep related study materials in the same place. At the end of the year my kids get such a sense of achievement! And I like the hard proof that we have accomplished something in my delayed gratification world!

Sabrina D.

Not yet, but this is only our 2nd year home schooling (my daughter is entering grade 6 this year) so I’m sure we will add it soon. Especially with great resources like this! We have done lapbooking with our local co-op on a few occasions and she loved it!

Karen

I have not heard of the term “notebooking” before, but we do use this method for our history/geography studies and really enjoy it!

Judy

I had seen the term “notebooking” but I really didn’t know what it was. This looks great!

http://www.susanbowers.typepad.com Susan

My sons are currently working on Africa from the Around the World in 180 Days curriculum by Apologia. I had to create my own lesson plans slash syllabus before we began. I divided all of the ‘assignments’ into a tabbed notebook, from maps to current events, missionaries studied, etc. It has been alot of work and it is a pretty thorough study of the continents, but I am finding something missing. Just not sure what. I would love a copy of this curriculum. The way we are notebooking this geography class is all I’m familiar with regarding notebooking. Oh, and we are taking two years to complete the ATW curriculum too.

JenMc

I have not used notebooking but would like to try it – it looks great!

LauraH

Yes, we have used notebooks a little and I have really liked them. I like that everything is altogether and it’s easy to view even after a subject is completed for the year. This looks like a great program, would love to use it. Thanks for the review and giveaway!